CrayolaViolence
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I thought brass was bad to have in a tank.
Tim's 230G Peninsula
- Thread starter TimSc2013
- Start date
TimSc2013
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These components are all external to the tank and will not affect water chemistry.
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TimSc2013
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I received the Precision Marine Kalkreactor this past Friday and was anxious to set it up. My original thought was to put it in-line with my ATO which consists of a float valve off the RO/DI system which is pressurized. Nowhere in the instructions or searching on-line could I find if the reactor was capable for sustained pressures of around 50 psi. I set it up anyways with without adding kalk and observe it for leaks as it seemed to be built like a tank. Upon filling and ramping up on pressure a leak developed in one of the connections so I removed, added more thread tape and tightened. After several attempts I finally appeared to have it watertight put was very leery leaving it this way without additional observations. No more than a couple minutes after calling it watertight, I heard a "˜pop' and saw that the MJ400 pump blew off the inlet/outlet housing and water was pouring out onto the cabinet floor! Thankfully I was right there to take care of it but I had not even considered that the pump would have been the week link"¦
Well now I know it is not pressure rated and so I had to go to Plan "œB". I thought the easiest solution without having to add another feed pump was to install an ATO container, which for now is a nice red/yellow kitty litter bucket, from the RO/DI and then gravity feed it to the reactor which would then be connected to the float in the sump. Luckily I had another float switch and bulk head which I installed in the "˜kitty' bucket. I added a regular PVC plug to the bulk head which was drilled and tapped for a 3/8" npt threaded push connection. Now all I needed to do was find a way to elevate the "˜kitty' bucket to provide the gravity feed. A couple brackets and 3/4" particle board from Menards did the trick and I got it to fit nicely above the sump.
On Saturday night I checked my alk (7dKh) I added 1/4 cup of Kalk to the reactor and arbitrarily reduced my 2-part dosing from around 480ml to about 312ml. Sunday morning I immediately checked my alk and it was at around 8 so I further reduced the 2-part dosing to 200ml. Monday morning the alk was at 8.4 so I went to work without changing anything. Monday night my alk tested at 7dkh which seemed odd so I ate dinner and tested again with a result of 8.4. Not sure what happened with my first test but the second on seemed more reliable and in-line with the morning test so I made no further changes. This morning the alk tested at 8.5 so it appears I have found the right combo for now to keep things stable. I will continue to test/observe for the remainder of the week before letting it run on auto-pilot.
Although I am not too proud of the "˜kitty' bucket and will eventually change it out for something a little less colorful, here is a pic of the set-up:
Well now I know it is not pressure rated and so I had to go to Plan "œB". I thought the easiest solution without having to add another feed pump was to install an ATO container, which for now is a nice red/yellow kitty litter bucket, from the RO/DI and then gravity feed it to the reactor which would then be connected to the float in the sump. Luckily I had another float switch and bulk head which I installed in the "˜kitty' bucket. I added a regular PVC plug to the bulk head which was drilled and tapped for a 3/8" npt threaded push connection. Now all I needed to do was find a way to elevate the "˜kitty' bucket to provide the gravity feed. A couple brackets and 3/4" particle board from Menards did the trick and I got it to fit nicely above the sump.
On Saturday night I checked my alk (7dKh) I added 1/4 cup of Kalk to the reactor and arbitrarily reduced my 2-part dosing from around 480ml to about 312ml. Sunday morning I immediately checked my alk and it was at around 8 so I further reduced the 2-part dosing to 200ml. Monday morning the alk was at 8.4 so I went to work without changing anything. Monday night my alk tested at 7dkh which seemed odd so I ate dinner and tested again with a result of 8.4. Not sure what happened with my first test but the second on seemed more reliable and in-line with the morning test so I made no further changes. This morning the alk tested at 8.5 so it appears I have found the right combo for now to keep things stable. I will continue to test/observe for the remainder of the week before letting it run on auto-pilot.
Although I am not too proud of the "˜kitty' bucket and will eventually change it out for something a little less colorful, here is a pic of the set-up:
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TimSc2013
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I ended up purchasing the Marine Technical Concepts PROCAL Calcium Reactor which was delivered this past weekend. After researching calcium reactors in the price range of around $700, it came down to the Life Reef (LCR 2), GEO CR818 and the MTC PROCAL. I went with the PROCAL due to the duel reactor, compact footprint (height restriction under tank) and the uniqueness not generally found in mass produced units.
I set it up on Saturday and put the CO2 in service, while removing my 2-part dosing and let it ride at 2BPS and 70 ml per min. The alk seem to maintain at around 8.5 dkh on Sunday but has slowing risen to about 9.8 dkh this morning while my outflow pH of around 6.7-6.8 was maintained. My only adjustment made since setting it up was this morning consisting of slightly decreasing the outflow to see if that would help reduce the rise in alk. I have been monitoring the outflow pH at work via Apex Fusion and it has slowing lowered a bit to around 6.72-6.73, which I expected with the reduced outflow. I will check my alk when I get home tonight and make further adjustments as necessary.
Here is my set-up, which neatly fits next to the sump and under my tank:
I set it up on Saturday and put the CO2 in service, while removing my 2-part dosing and let it ride at 2BPS and 70 ml per min. The alk seem to maintain at around 8.5 dkh on Sunday but has slowing risen to about 9.8 dkh this morning while my outflow pH of around 6.7-6.8 was maintained. My only adjustment made since setting it up was this morning consisting of slightly decreasing the outflow to see if that would help reduce the rise in alk. I have been monitoring the outflow pH at work via Apex Fusion and it has slowing lowered a bit to around 6.72-6.73, which I expected with the reduced outflow. I will check my alk when I get home tonight and make further adjustments as necessary.
Here is my set-up, which neatly fits next to the sump and under my tank:
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TimSc2013
New member
Fine tuning of the calcium reactor is slowly on-going as I don't want to make too many adjustments in a short period. So after reducing the reactor output Tuesday morning (~50 ml/min), my dkh continued to rise to around 10.2 when tested that night. I then decided to reduce my CO2 injection a bit to around 1 bps while keeping the outflow at around 50 ml/min. Wednesday morning the output pH up from 6.73 to 6.88 and the output dkh of around 10.0.
Since the slow increase in alk since setting the reactor up stopped, I have made no further adjustments but am now seeing a slow decrease with alk at 9.7 dkh last night and 9.5 dkh this morning. If it continues to drop when I test tonight, I will try to adjust my CO2 injection to get the outflow pH of around 6.8 to see if that will stabilize. One thing I forgot to mention is that I am running the reactor as designed by providing feed water off the recirc. pump and have not employed the Masterflex pump.
Anyway, here are some low quality FTS:
Since the slow increase in alk since setting the reactor up stopped, I have made no further adjustments but am now seeing a slow decrease with alk at 9.7 dkh last night and 9.5 dkh this morning. If it continues to drop when I test tonight, I will try to adjust my CO2 injection to get the outflow pH of around 6.8 to see if that will stabilize. One thing I forgot to mention is that I am running the reactor as designed by providing feed water off the recirc. pump and have not employed the Masterflex pump.
Anyway, here are some low quality FTS:
